Recent Business Solutions

Following are just a few examples of the many different ways Comcity can work with you to remove the "growing pains" of aligning I.T. with your business needs without the need for you to be IT savvy.

As an independent I.T. Consultancy, you can rest assured that our solutions are developed to meet our clients' needs, not satisfy quotas placed upon us by vendors.

• Small Business Solutions
• Server Consolidation and Virtualisation
• Application Delivery and Remote Solutions
• Mobile Communications
• First Server, Right Server
• Server Consolidation, Best Practices and Maintenance
• Project Management System

Small Business Solutions

Problem: Comcity undertook the deployment of a Microsoft Small Business Server 2008 solution for a client whose requirements were:

• To proactively address the hardware lifecycle of their existing Small Business 2003 Server and Infrastructure capable of supporting the current business capacity while accounting for business growth for the next 3+ years.
• To reduce current IT issues such as server capacity limitations and the physical and productivity costs that result from these issues, as well as to allow sufficient capacity for new IT incentives or applications that Our Community requires.
• To ensure the primary server of the business is protected under manufacturer's warranty for at least the next 3 years.
• To upgrade network backup, antivirus products to the latest versions in order to reduce ongoing technical issues.
• Protect the server and business information against loss or damage through the implementation of backup technologies based on IT best practices

Solution: To achieve all of the objectives sought by the client, Comcity Technology implemented the Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2008 Premium platform.

The solution allowed the business to store information securely, while still being able to share common documents with others. It provides email, calendaring and contact services to the organisation, and allows access to the latest emails while users are in the office, at home or on the road, including Outlook Web Access and Push-Email to Windows Mobile/Apple iPhone devices.

It provides the capability to take remote control of your work desktop from home, allowing you to operate as if you were in the office with full access to normal applications and documents. It provides for central storage and access to the applications used by the business, for centralised access to records and manageable backup.

Comcity's successful deployment of this new technology provided enhance capabilities that were previously unknown to this business this enabled greater business efficiency and reduced operating costs while also providing a solid foundation for growth.

Server Consolidation and Virtualisation

Problem: An organisation with approximately 600 staff relying upon their I.T. infrastructure had a number of servers approaching the end of their useful life. Technology had not kept pace with organisational growth and most servers were under performing & had little redundancy built-in.

External auditors identified the situation as a critical business risk, which had the potential to impede future organisational growth as well as the potential for damage to their reputation in the event of a failure.

The prospect of a like-for-like Server refresh was going to be costly, without introducing any real benefits for the organisation other than a performance improvement & warranty coverage - essentially, they would be no better off, but considerably poorer for the experience.

Solution: Comcity Technology was engaged to architect a solution that would not only prove to be cost effective, but also provide significant scalability, performance and the all-important peace of mind that there is added redundancy in place in the event of a failure.

The natural solution was to implement VMWare's ESX platform, coupled with IBM Servers and Storage. The server sprawl of days gone by was contained, leading to cost savings both up-front & ongoing. Added redundancy was built in using VMWare's High-Availability technology, meaning that the operation could withstand a total physical server failure and keep running.

The solution was implemented on time and on budget, with no unplanned downtime for the client. In fact, most of the 600 staff were completely unaware that anything had changed, other than the fact that they could now do their jobs more quickly.

All in all, a testament to the chosen technologies, coupled with Comcity Technology's expertise in design & deployment of advanced I.T. Infrastructure.

Application Delivery and Remote Office Solutions

Problem: Organisations face various business challenges and requirements that must be met for the business to succeed. They must also be able to leverage new opportunities and cost-cutting measures to remain competitive in the marketplace.

Organisations with offsite-based staff or regular remote offices also face significant challenges in delivering company information to these staff while keeping this company information secure.

Solution: Implementing a Centralised Application Solution will enhance and/or provide the following to benefits to organisation with multiple offices and locations:

Remote office connectivity - Manage and enable access to applications from one centralized location, reducing the cost of managing and setting up branch offices individually.

Workforce mobility - Extend access to applications beyond the traditional office environment. Management and employees can connect via any available internet connection - wired or wireless, private or public - and have access to all the programs they use, all the time.

Reduce Server and Server Management Costs- Reduce the amount of Server infrastructure required in remote offices, by centralising all applications and data at the Melbourne office. This will also reduce cost in having to maintain, support and replace these servers

Install Once, Deliver to Many- Removes the requirement to manually install and upgrade applications at the PC level, saving hundreds of hours per year in the updating of applications such as Microsoft Office, ERP systems and Line of Business Applications, which are complex and time consuming. Application Delivery also eliminates the time-consuming and costly task of rebuilding or setting up a new PC.

Citrix, the application delivery solution which provides the above benefits, is deployed and configured on-top of the current Microsoft Terminal Server Platform without requiring additional server hardware. Once an application delivery is deployed and configured, users will have access to applications from any location, and can be restricted to only have access to applications deemed suitable for their role. With the addition of ThinPrint printer virtualisation and compression technologies, the solution will also allow employees to automatically print to a printer when working from any location, such as management wishing to print a financial report at home when working from home.

Remote Office Benefits

• Significantly reduce the ongoing costs associated with maintaining and supporting remote offices and users.
• Improve the experience of staff in Branch Offices through acceleration of the applications they use from day to day, improving the productivity of staff in these offices.
• Centralisation of all company information to Head Offices reduces risk of data theft and ensures all data is being backed up regularly.
• Allow for anywhere-access to Applications for on-call/emergency/mobile workers.
• Reduces the need for travel to Branch Offices as tasks which could only be done on-site such as the setup of a new PC, can now be performed remotely.

Mobile Communications

Problem: A company with a highly mobile sales force was having problems communicating important information to their staff. The Sales team didn't like having to return to the office each afternoon to read e-mails and return calls or do this from home "on their own time".

Solution: Comcity implemented a fleet of Smart Phones, whereby mobile phone calls, e-mails and SMS messages are received by staff in real time, no matter where they are physically located. The staff are now able to respond to all communications quickly and efficiently, resulting in an increase in valuable "client facing" time as well as client and staff satisfaction.

First Server, Right Server

Problem: A small but rapidly expanding consulting firm felt they had outgrown their I.T. environment, although the equipment was only 12 months old. None of their PC's were able to talk to each other, there was no centralized, secure storage of information and staff were becoming increasingly frustrated reinventing the wheel because they couldn't effectively share information.

Solution: Comcity worked with the client and ascertained that the best solution would be to implement a small network. Utilising the client's existing equipment within the solution meant that Comcity was able to protect the client's investment in the original technology. This solution is now handling the central storage of data for sharing by appropriate staff, as well as e-mails, printing and the all-important backup of their business-critical information.

Server Consolidation, Best Practices and Maintenance

Problem: A medium sized business running a complex network with 12 servers found that their systems were extremely unreliable, despite investing quite heavily in new equipment and ongoing support with their IT provider. They couldn't understand why, despite this investment, things just didn't seem to be getting any better.

Solution: Comcity was engaged to provide an unbiased network assessment, analysing network topology, server configuration and maintenance practices. It was ascertained that the equipment was more than satisfactory for the purpose, however the configuration was not in line with best practices, nor was there any routine maintenance being performed. As a consequence, servers were vulnerable to security flaws and other potentially business-impacting issues.

Following our investigation, Comcity began a process of server consolidation, reducing the overall number from 12 to 8, progressively re-building the servers in line with best practices and implementing a routine maintenance schedule to ensure all servers are patched and updated. As a result, the business is experiencing unprecedented network reliability and responsiveness, with their investment in IT now being channeled into proactive business enhancement rather than reactive break-fix work.

Project Management System

Problem: A medium sized business was experiencing issues managing projects within their organisation. It was becoming increasingly difficult to track the status of projects, and ensure staff were viewing or modifying the most recent version of documents.

The existing project system consisted of a combination of print outs, white boards, and excel charts stored on individuals workstations. As a result a large administrative overhead was associated with each project.

Solution: It was deemed suitable that Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services would greatly meet and exceed the client's requirements. To satisfy the business requirements, Comcity applied further customisations to the internally developed SharePoint Solution - Project Management System, deployed the solution, and provided SharePoint training to key personal.

The solution was published to the Internet via an SSL connection providing remote secure access to users working from home, overseas offices, and external contractors. To ease management of security, a combination of Active Directory and SharePoint Security Groups were created.

Facilities for importing data from the old systems into the new were incorporated. Overall the client drastically reduced the project administrative overhead, increased the accuracy of project information, and gained the ability to report on real time data within the system.